How a Kitchen in Your Gym Can Transform Your Community

All the fun happens in the gym. All the sweating, lifting and crushing ourselves trying to transform our bodies. But as fitness professionals know, real fat loss and true health happens in the kitchen by eating real whole food. Yet most of our clients and members are still trying to out train a bad diet. Why? Because it is easier to justify mentally than to avoid the tempting foods that hold them back from living a fit and healthy life.

Here at West U Fitness, we took a small and proactive step to help our clients adopt healthy eating habits by building a teaching kitchen in our facility, one where we can prepare real whole food. Our purpose is to help individuals become healthier, more fit and with a better life by building a better relationship with food. Food our grandparents recognized and ate. The stuff that is on the outside aisles of the grocery store.

We want to lead our clients to become role models of healthy eating for those who look up to us most and rely on our leadership—our children.

The idea of building a kitchen in your facility may seem far-fetched to you, especially if you do not have space for one or if your budget is tight. You likely think building a kitchen must be at least a $50,000 investment. I completely understand. Your heart is in the right place, but you have to be realistic, right?

But ask yourself one simple question: To create lasting impact in the community I serve, how would a kitchen in my facility, teaching about real whole food, help to transform lives, create raving fans and beef up the bottom line?

For our industry to create a lasting legacy for generations to come, we must challenge the status quo of typical gym offerings. We must address the root of the problem with old-school wisdom for living a fit and healthy life.

To truly transform your members' lives, we do not need to offer them another workout program or crazy diet. We simply need to show them how to prepare and eat real whole food again.

I have created the videos listed below to walk you through three important areas of focus to set yourself up for success if you choose to add a teaching kitchen to your facility:

1. Our philosophy focusing on eating real whole food: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQQnIYuwyY

2. Our curriculum to help people become more mindful about eating real whole food: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcxEaicIvX8

3. Our kitchen environment that you can recreate for a few hundred bucks: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xHLRpMsieg

So is it possible that a kitchen can transform lives, create raving fans and beef up the bottom line without creating added work? Yes.

How? By tapping into the power of your community.

Your team has leaders who are passionate about food and would love to step up, prove their leadership and oversee the organization of the kitchen. Allowing them to do so would take the responsibility from your plate.

Some clients or members in your facility also are passionate about healthy food, are culinary graduates and/or have a desire to teach about healthy living. Allowing them to do so would help create raving fans by allowing members to become heroes of healthy eating for their friends.

Dozens of chefs and restaurants are willing to donate their time and resources in exchange for promoting their business. If you partner with them, you can add a fee to the class, which will help you keep your budget in check and beef up your bottom line.

Start small. Be wise. And seek to discover how a simple teaching kitchen in your facility can transform your community.

BIO

Brent Gallagher is co-owner of West U Fitness in Houston with his wife, Cassie. He can be reached at [email protected].